Brian Cox On Succession Co-Star Jeremy Strong’s Method Acting: “It’s F**king Annoying”

Actor Brian Cox has commented on his Succession co-star Jeremy Strong’s penchant for method acting, saying Strong is a fantastic actor but his approach is “f**king annoying.”

“He’s a very good actor,” Cox told Town & Country. “And the rest of the ensemble is all okay with this. But knowing a character and what the character does is only part of the skill set.”

Asked if it was annoying to hang around on set between takes who never breaks character, Cox replied, “Oh, it’s f**king annoying. Don’t get me going on it.”

Cox plays the patriarch Logan Roy on Succession, with Strong portraying his son, Kendall. There is a pivotal, emotional scene in the Season 3 finale that leaves Kendall in tatters. It’s a gripping scene that Cox said Strong performed with great skill, but was shocked that he didn’t come out of character when the cameras stopped rolling.

“He’s still that guy, because he feels if he went somewhere else he’d lose it,” Cox said. “But he won’t! Strong is talented. He’s f**king gifted. When you’ve got the gift, celebrate the gift. Go back to your trailer and have a hit of marijuana, you know?”

A 2021 New Yorker Profile revealed the depths and extent of Strong’s method acting, including him asking to be sprayed with real poison gas for Aaron Sorkin’s The Trial of the Chicago 7. In that same piece, Cox said, “I’ve worked with intense actors before. It’s a particularly American disease, I think, this inability to separate yourself off while you’re doing the job.”

In a new piece for GQ, Strong said it was his “15 minutes of shame, with a long tail.” He added, “I hadn’t felt judged like that in a very long time.”

As for Cox, he has a number of upcoming projects in the works, including voicing the main character in the Lord of the Rings animated movie, War of the Rohirrim. Before that, fans will see Cox play Logan Roy again when Succession Season 4 arrives in late March.